Fairport Convention

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT FAIRPORT CONVENTION - PAGE 2

Folk musicians often get pegged as sad-sack, long-suffering types, and even though there's plenty of angst in Richard Thompson's music, in conversation he sounds like the last person to join the pity party. Talking about how he decides which songs from his 30-year music career to play on a given night, Thompson wryly observes that "the audience is a fairly good judge of a song. If they don't respond, it doesn't mean that (they don't understand that) you're just an obscure, precious genius - though in my case it's true."

Linda Thompson Dreams Fly Away (Hannibal) (star) (star) (star) 1/2 Thompson is the lesser-known half of one of the great duos in British folk-rock. Before their marriage ended, Richard and Linda Thompson recorded a half-dozen good-to-remarkable albums over a 10-year span ending in 1982. While Richard continues to record as a solo artist of considerable merit, Linda recorded only one more solo album before retiring from the music business with a disorder that restricts her ability to sing.

June Tabor and the Oyster Band Freedom and Rain (Rykodisc) (STAR)(STAR) This collaboration promised to be the closest anyone might come these days to the musical majesty once attained by that great English folk rock ensemble, Fairport Convention. Tabor is the best and brightest of Sandy Denny's musical heirs, a singer whose deep, dusky tone suggests unfathomable Celtic mysteries. The Oyster Band, a bright, progressive group that brought colorful punk and world music flavorings to the English folk rock formula, was also frequently and glowingly compared to Fairport.

Over two decades -- first as the rhythm section of Galaxie 500 and then on a series of low-key studio albums -- Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang have mastered the art of intimacy. But on Damon and Naomi's sixth studio release, "Within These Walls" (Domino), the couple pulls off a neater trick. If any album can be said to sound "quietly bold," this is it. The guitarist Michio Kurihara has been partnering with the couple for several years, and his playing is more integral to the Damon and Naomi sound than ever.

Boiled in Lead Orb (Atomic Theory/Flying Fish) (STAR)(STAR) 1/2 Boiled in Lead began as Minnesota's answer to England's folk-rock royalty, Fairport Convention. Now it seems more like Minnesota's answer to England's wacky world-beat crew, 3 Mustaphas 3. It helps that Hijaz Mustapha of 3M3 produced BiL's new album. But the band had already begun to shift from folk rock to more of a world music bent on its last album. BiL still performs some Fairport styled rockers and ballads.

Winter Hours Winter Hours (Chrysalis) (STAR)(STAR)(STAR) Wait till the Morning (Link) (STAR)(STAR) 1/2 After putting out five independent records in 1985-88, this Lyndhurst, N.J., quintet finally is getting the major-label push its distinctive folk-country-rock music deserves. The self-titled album on Chrysalis, produced by musicologist/guitar hero/punk pioneer Lenny Kaye, is the band's finest work yet. Joseph Marques` dusky tenor is full of brooding fatalism; it's perfectly matched by the band's heady mix of guitars, which spiral, intertwine and drift off like smoke rings.

Boiled In Lead From the Ladle to the Grave (Atomic Theory) (STAR)(STAR)(STAR) This Minnesota quartet began as a kind of punky Fairport Convention, but more recently widened its range. The band's third album experiments with electric folk-rock approaches to traditional Russian, Turkish and Bulgarian music, as well as more typical Anglo-Irish forms. Tossed in for good measure are "Stop! Stop! Stop!," the old Hollies tune here combined with an Egyptian number, and "Cuz Mapfumo," a tribute to both Chicago's Cuz Teahan and Zimbabwe's Thomas Mapfumo.

For all its progressive leanings and countercultural cachet, folk has always been a pretty conservative genre. After all, all Bob Dylan had to do to provoke catcalls of "sell out" was plug in his guitar. And though modern ears may have trouble pinpointing the difference between folk and folk-rock, Fairport Convention will always be categorized as the latter. For too many people, folk still stubbornly equals an acoustic guitar and little else. England's Beth Orton plays music inspired by British bands such as Fairport Convention -- her voice even bears an uncanny similarity to that group's one-time singer Sandy Denny -- as well as cult figures including John Martyn and Nick Drake.

Plenty goin` on: The soulful (and frequently danceable) triple bill of Jeffrey Osborne, Gwen Guthrie and Levert, in concert Saturday at the Auditorium Theater, shapes up as one of the week's best entertainment values. All three acts currently have Top 20 rhythm and blues hits, and one-time jingle singer Guthrie's "Ain`t Nothin` Goin` on but the Rent" and Levert's "(Pop Pop Pop Pop) Goes My Mind" each occupied the No. 1 R & B spot recently. Some other shows to consider when planning your entertainment agenda for the week ahead: RAINMAKERS, Friday at Harper College in Palatine: This rock quartet from Kansas City, Mo., has been getting some attention from the music press for its grittily energetic style and frequently sardonic original songs such as "Let My People Go-Go."

LONDON (Reuters) - If you want a silly little love song, don't bother with Richard Thompson - the singer-songwriter does angst not amour. Instead of beating hearts, flowers and sunny days, you get bitter break-ups, painful goodbyes, spite and the long walk home. "You can write a song about relationships and it can be just a very polite, twee love song," Thompson told Reuters as he embarks on his latest tour with a new CD in hand. "But I don't think that is doing justice to what usually happens to human beings.